Selling, ROI and Linkedin

This weeks fab five posts have a common theme around prospecting, measurement and ROI. In B2B marketing and business development it’s important to remember that your primary goal is to build a relationship with people. Awareness, reach and conversion are all important. The key is developing and executing a program that does these three things. We’ve run a hi-liter through these articles for you. Enjoy!

Our Favourite Posts for Week of Mar 12, 2012

1) Creating Social Media Dashboards | Source: Social Media Today There is way too much money being spent by marketers on marketing automation systems, social monitoring systems and reporting systems. More effort, time and money needs to be spent on people defining what needs to be measured, by who and why. We have a simple rule of thumb when choosing tools that automate, monitor and measure. Here’s the secret: Is it easy to use? Do we use it daily? Does it provide us with meaningful results? Is it overpriced?

2) How to Harness the Power of LinkedIn – INFOGRAPHIC | Source: Jeffbullas’s Blog We’ve developed a thriving a community using Linkedin as core platform for engagement, connection and live events. Linkedin in combination with Twitter are core to any B2B marketing and business development strategy and execution plan.

3) Don’t Call Me | Source: Forbes The telephone, email correspondence and face to face meetings are becoming the most intimate and strategic means to engage with people. Use them sparingly and strategically so that when people receive your call, your email or a meeting request they are more apt to want to take your call, respond to your email and meet with you in person. Use networking events and social networks to share what you know, share who you’ve met and start connections which will lead to more personal engagement.

4) Study Finds Marketers Don’t Practice ROI They Preach | Source: CMO Strategy/Advertising Age In B2B measuring ROI is at the heart of all marketing and business development activities. Brand awareness is important (aided vs. unaided recall) and so is reach (especially with social media now an engine for peer and friend related word of mouth). But, B2B marketers/business developers must have tactics and conversion incentives integrated with their marketing programs. What’s missing is formal benchmarking on marketing ROI. Feel free to read some more posts on ROI here.

5) 5 Social Media Mistakes That Hurt Your Sales | Source: Social Media Examiner A great companion post to the one above on ROI. Great advice on how to use content and how to prospect via social media. Ironically, the advice being given here, should apply to traditional prospecting as well. Now one likes a pushy sales persons or marketer.

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.